Crucible of Courage

[antimony]

Imbues you with enormous amounts of courage. Use this blend when you feel weak, scared, or intimidated. Helps you find the strength to confront dangerous or frightening situations.

In the vial:
Smels herby, smells nice, a little sharp but nothing shocking.

On my skin:
This stuff smells exactly like soap. Not just kinda soapy like a lot of "clean" scents do, but exactly like real oil-and-lye handmade soap. Soap scented with kitchen herbs, nothing exotic. This is a scent that suggests a place for everything and everything in its place. I can almost feel the lather on my skin.

I can hear my mom saying, "Quit dreaming up these stupid worst-case scenarios. Just pull yourself together and do what you need to do."

Edit: wow, this stuff has some staying power. Even well into the afternoon, I felt like I had soap suds up my nose.

NOTE: This review thread is for the BPAL Voodoo Blend that was discontinued in October 2004. Twilight Alchemy Lab has since released its own Crucible of Courage, and you can find those reviews here. --Shollin Edited September 13, 2007 by Shollin

[ebonykawai]

This smells a lot like Psyche to me, but not as strong. It's sits in the background more, like it's quietly urging you on. Good staying power. Very nice, I really like this.

[Tesseljoan]

A little soapy, with a bit of herbs that are a little sharp, but overall a soft smell.

 

Will comment on effectiveness later. I have plenty of opportunities to test it, because Social Phobia + therapy in which you're encouraged to break the habit = scarey.

 

ETA: I love this scent. It's very addictive in it's comforting way, and this has become one of my most used scents. Effectiveness? Well, I can't expect a blend to take away all my fears, can I? But I do notice that I can give myself that little 'C'mon, do it,'-push just a little bit easier when wearing this.

Edited July 20, 2004 by Tesseljoan

[glampyre]

Crucible of Courage

 

...smells like Eastern spices, honey, and tea. It's so edible and delicious.

 

I wore this all day yesterday to rave reviews from my co workers. One of them was so enamoured of it that she asked what it was. Today, she told me that she kept catching whiffs of it later in the day yesterday, at the store, at home...so it really left a memorable impression on her. Today I am trying another oil on my skin, and she knew it was different.

 

This morning, I put two drops of Crucible of Courage in my oil burner as I was getting ready for work. As I drank my coffee and got dressed, I really thought about the things that I need to face with courage today, and continued to think about them as I rode my bike to work.

 

The effect is really centering. I feel the brevity as a concentration of energy. A focus of mind as regards the taks at hand. I have been feeling intimidated by a project I have a work, and today I'm working on it with confidence and a centered sense of being.

 

 

(edited b/c I can not type)

Edited September 7, 2004 by glampyre

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: I want to say that I smell palmarosa. Crucible of Courage has a very "essential oil" smell about it.

 

Second Impression: Oh how lovely this blooms. The initial sharpness mellows out and sweetens to honeyed spices and roses.

 

Final Analysis: Rob and I are starting the green card process and I wanted this to wear to the final interview. Not only will I be brave under the questioning of the validity of our marriage but I'll also smell gorgeous. Thanks Beth

[Shollin]

I really wish this behaved as well on me as it seemed to on y'all. Glampyre's version sounds especially lovely!

 

First sniff: Crucible of Courage is a weird scent. It makes me think herbally-minty-green, but I’m not sure it’s really any of those things.

 

Wearing: It turns to dark purple baby powder instantly upon hitting my skin, and a few minutes later just smells like regular baby powder. Dang.

[grrrlennyl]

crucible of courage

 

at first: the lab tossed this in as an extra, but i had actually ordered it. very herbal. interesting.

on: hmmm...i can't really figure this one out. it's almost sweet, but not quite. it's biting, but not too much so. i smell a lot of herbs and flowers.

1 hour later: wow. softer now, but not soft. i really like this.

2 hours later: biting, but not too bad. it's a bit sweet, floral, and herbal.

3 hours later: strong. i can't think of how else to describe it. not offensively biting, but still biting.

overall: i definitely like this, and i'll be looking for a chance to use this for its intended purpose.

[harlequin]

In the bottle, this one smells like herbal roses to me.. It's kind of sharp, yet kind of soft at the same time. very interesting.

 

On, this one starts out as roses with a fine dusting of powder. I'm assuming it's something of the herbs that turned a tad bit powdery, but with this scent, it actually really works... and the rose is still definitely dominant to me. I was driving in the car to work about 10 minutes after putting this on, and it actually smelled like I had a dozen on the seat next to me.

 

After a while the powder even fades more than the already lightness it had to begin with and the rose softens out..

 

this is really lovely.. I'm so glad I got a bottle of it when the discontinuation was announced even though I hadn't smelled it at all yet.

 

Not sure how the courage giving aspect works out, but I can imagine definitely get a "I am woman, hear me roar" vibe out of it.. To me, it definitely smells more feminine than anything.. perhaps I'll have to slap some on the boy to see if it does the same thing on him. hehe.

[Gin]

This is beautiful. At first, there's a very sweet note over a sweet herbal, over a sharp herbal, but then it goes right into a beautiful floral sweetness. I definitely feel confident when wearing this.

[LupaWulf]

Seems sort of mud/outside ish to me.

 

Some sort of herbal tones. Not bad really, but definatly STAYS on.

 

I don't know weather it was my body succuming to a cold or not, but something made me sneeze a lot the day I wore it.

 

The scent definatly has a tingle-ing quality for my nose (even now over the cold). Not awful, but not quite my favorite. Nice to have tho.

[Penance]

Preconceived notions:

 

I've been waiting quite a while to review this because I haven't had a chance or a reason to see if it really works, so rather than waiting any longer I'm going to review it based on scent alone and then update if and when I actually test it's effectiveness.

 

First sniff:

 

This is familiar, but I can't place it...it's floral smelling, maybe rose? There's something slightly herbal here, too. It's not a pronounced herbal note, it's more like a tiny touch of rosemary or something similar. Somehow this smells like a Voodoo Blend.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Herbal and powdery. This must have rose in it or else it has some extremely well hidden juniper because they're the only things I've come across that turn into baby powder on me. It's not unpleasant by any means, just somewhat unexpected.

 

Dry down:

 

Basically the same as when it was wet. It's not unpleasant to me the way most rose scents are and it's herbal enough to still smell decent to me so, all in all, it's not too bad for scent alone, although it's not really me.

 

The bottom line:

 

I can't say just yet whether Crucible of Courage works, but I can say it's a fairly pleasant floral/herbal blend that mellows nicely on the dry down.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: You know that herbally note that lurks in all the voodoo fragrances? The pure version is this blend! It's green and makes my nose tingle.

 

On me: Green herbs. I have absolutely no idea what, specifically, just something very green. I have a presentation in a few hours, but I'm not getting the little butterflies that usually start manifesting around now. So I say this works great! After it's been on the skin for half an hour, the florals blossom and it becomes a lovely green fragrance. In fact, the drydown reminds me quite strongly of Goona Goona. I wish this hadn't been discontinued; it's quite lovely.

[shelldoo]

I too wish this was available

 

it is clean, but a warm clean,

 

soft, sweet, honey and tea yumminess, there is a very faint touch of breath that is floral and all this lays in a soft, lush bed of dry herbs, but that is so fleeting i almost could miss it, all in all just a gorgeous blend. i want more *pouts*

[isyche]

I've had an imp of this lying around since it was discontinued, but never thought to wear it until now. I usually don't think of the voodoo blends as having to smell nice - I've used them more for their particular functions - but wow, Crucible of Courage is so yummy! It's sweet, floral, a little herbal, and I think it has honey and rose in it because it's a little reminiscent of Jezebel on my skin. Darn, now I want more of it.

Edited May 4, 2005 by isyche

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): There's something familiar about this, but I have no clue what it is. It smells a little bit gritty.

 

Just On: Still can't figure out what it is that I'm smelling, but it's gritty, and tough. Seems perfect for the name.

 

An hour or two later: There's something not quite sweet, but rich and creamy in here. Still rather tough as well.

 

Around 6 hours: This is a creamy, gritty scent all together. It's very well blended. I like it.

 

12 hours: I'm left with a creamy baby powder scent that is quite lovely, if a bit faded.

 

Overall: At the beginning, it really seems to stand up and make me take notice. It fades away to something soothing, which is really perfect, as you would want the initial blast of courage, and then something soothing after doing whatever it was that you needed courgae for.

 

After reading other reviews: Uh, I guess mine is first. I can't really say what's in it, I'm so not that well trained in the nose yet. I just know that it starts out with something that is tough as nails, but not metallic. As it wears on my skin, it gradually transforms into something very creamy and lovely, finally winding up with a creamy baby powder scent that is all about comfort to me. I think this will get use in my home, and will probably hoard this for a while. More kudos to Beth for another beautiful blend, especially one that lives up to it's name so well, as far as I'm concerned.

 

{Ahhh, this is the first time I've posted without finding the other reviews.}

 

EDIT: Merged with existing thread --Shollin

Edited June 14, 2005 by OriginalWacky

[Firewaver]

In the bottle.. it has the look and smell of Old English furniture oil.. mixed with glycerin saddle soap. I used to love the smell of saddle soap!

 

Drying.. its beginning to smell rather lovely. Reading the reviews, I thought it would hate this one, because I really loathe the powdery dry down.

 

Dry.. this reminds me a bit of Dragon's heart in that it reminds me of shiny polished wood; though this is a sharper smell than dragon's heart.

 

I'm not sure if this one is going to be a keeper, but I will wait until the weather cools of a bit and I need these warm wooden scents to comfort me.

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impresssion:

Wow, this has a lot of throw to it and is almost too herbal at first for me. Thank goodness I gave it time to dry down and morph into a really lovely blend. Now the sharp greeness of it is in the background and a soft floral note that I can't identify really (Is that jasmine) comes to the forefront. I really like this one alot, and it is too bad it is discontinued. My scale of 1-5...4+

[sookster]

i love this blend immensely

lots of floral action going on that keeps going strong for hours ... after awhile i get some leafy or green notes here and there...subtly....beautifully....

i will cherish this bottle for many years to come...

 

special note: i get particularly nervous when i go for filling replacements at the dentist and on my last visit i dabbed a bit on my wrists/behind my ears and was calm, cool and collected the entire time...amen!!

[Little Bird]

Voodoo blends do not often work well on my skin. This one starts out smelling strongly herbal and green, with some sort of sharp floral (very sharp rose?) lingering in the background. It's also a bit soapy to me. Then, after a half hour, Crucible of Courage starts to smell like sweet floral powder. Within an hour, this is pure baby powder on me.

 

A lot of the discontinued blends don't work on me, and voodoo blends almost never do. Crucible of Courage just isn't something that I would ever wear for the fragrance.

[edenssixthday]

Crucible of Courage - First off, I can’t say it gave me any additional courage that I felt I was lacking, so in that respect, I can’t rate it very high; however, in the scent aspects of it, wow, it’s beautiful! It is warm and creamy and slightly sweet. If I had to guess some of the notes that might be in this blend, I would guess amber, vanilla, and saffron. About 20-30 minutes after application, it gets the slightest hint of a plastic scent, the way a lot of foody scents do on me, but it’s very faint and overall doesn’t detract from the gorgeous scent of this blend. It’s a beautiful-smelling blend. Sadly, it sticks very close to my skin with virtually no throw – I can only smell it if I sniff my skin up close. The staying power is about 3 hours on me. I doubt I would wear this as a perfume since there’s no throw, but it’s hard to say I won’t either because the scent is so lovely.

[steffanina]

Crucible of Courage-

 

In Bottle: Rich-deep-spicy. Almost a foodie smell, but more herbal than that.

 

Wet: Sharp and herbal. I have the idea that this one will be nicer once it dries a little, it's too sharp for me on first whiff.

 

Dry: Hmm. I just don't like this one. I can't identify the smells but they're all kind of perfume-gone-old smell.

 

Overall: Not for me.

[fiddledragon]

I used CoC along with the TAL Catalyst to start up a period of inner work I've been doing. Scentwise it has a strong element of "that ritual bpal smell" -- something I identify as a kind of sweet musky resin. There might be some herbal notes as well. Unfortunately, I didn't like it at all and didn't notice any effect on me psychologically, so I think this is not for me.

[supremegoddessofall]

In bottle: Cold, light florals. Lilac?

 

On me: Chemical rose. Something sharp underneath that's burning my nose.

[aquazoo]

This is one of those warm skin scents. Now that I have this, time to revise the resume... :-)

[zankoku_zen]

I have to say that Crucible of Courage is very wearable. Not that its distinctive, but its rather a scent that envelopes in its warmness. I get something floral, warm, creamy, slightly powdery. I think it possibly has roses, vanilla, and something else. On wet, you can definitely tell that its' not just a perfume as its more herbal than perfume tends to be. The drydown is gorgeous though.

 

Given that I am just testing it for scent purposes, I'll review it again after I perhaps need a "courage" boost.